The lights will flicker on and off...

May 31, 2018 12:38 PM

Whenever I'm really tired (like I've been up all day), my eyesight flickers when I blink. Kind of like when the power acts up and the lights flicker in a room. But with whatever I'm looking at. What the hell is that? Is it my brain being tired, or my eyes being tired? Is there a name for this phenomenon? I'm 23 and have astigmatism treated with glasses. I just find it weird and am curious.
posted by starlybri to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

I have no answers but I am 35 with no vision problems and have also had this forever, so I’m happy to see it isn’t just me! Looking forward to an answer.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:47 PM on May 31, 2018

I get this too -- have as long as I can remember. I'm 49. I do have a (mild) vision problem -- I have trouble with focusing and with both my eyes working together. Indeed I did vision therapy that helped a lot. But I don't know if this is related.
posted by Lescha at 2:14 PM on May 31, 2018

I have no idea what this is but if my vision ever started flickering on and off I would see a doctor about it pronto.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:32 PM on May 31, 2018

I have a weak eye and a tired eye - basically one eye has always been shitty and then the other one got worse bc it did too much of the job. I get my eyes tested every couple years but it's always the same thing - you can wear glasses if you want but the thing wrong with your eyes won't be fixed by glasses, they'll just bump your vision by about 5%. I get this thing all the time, especially when I'm super tired. I'm 36 and wore glasses as a kid.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 2:44 PM on May 31, 2018

Response by poster: Hmmm. I did vision therapy when I was a kid, like Lescha. Maybe this is a thing with people that have problems with their eyes.
posted by starlybri at 3:57 PM on May 31, 2018

Thank you for asking this question. I have been getting this occasionally over the past year, also when I’m tired.(Mid 40s, excellent vision up until now.) I’ll be really interested in knowing what the answer is (but not interested enough to actually go to a doctor, go figure...)
posted by Jubey at 4:03 PM on May 31, 2018

I'm an emergency physician/toxicologist

1) Asthenopia is the formal term for eye strain.

2) Amblyopia is the formal term for dimness or blurring due to a delay/problem with signal transmission from the eye to the brain along the optic nerve

3) If you spend a lot of time looking at screens, read this
posted by BadgerDoctor at 5:00 PM on May 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sorry if this is an obvious question, but is there any chance your vision seems to flicker because your eyes are just sticky and therefore blinking takes a microsecond longer than usual? Because that's what was going on with my eyes until I got diagnosed with dry eye and started treatment.
posted by rhiannonstone at 7:54 PM on May 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Hm, rhiannonstone, that is a possibility! I'll try out some artificial tears because I actually do have dry eyes. Maybe it'll help. And thanks for the info, BadgerDoctor. The link was very interesting.
posted by starlybri at 8:47 PM on May 31, 2018

I have this when I'm really sleep deprived. I also did vision therapy as a kid (for strabismus, pretty much corrected). It never occurred to me that it wasn't just a thing that happens to everyone when they're super tired.
posted by Kriesa at 1:57 PM on June 1, 2018

I get this when I'm really tired, too. I'm mid-forties, and nearsighted.
posted by sarcasticah at 10:18 AM on June 2, 2018